Public demonstration in Chennai in support of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 08:12 GMT]More than a thousand people from various parts of Tamil Nadu gathered in front of Munro Statue in Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Sunday around 11:00 a.m and marched in a procession to the Government Guest House in Cheppaakam, demanding the UN to hold a referendum among the Eezham Tamils to know whether they want a separate state and to free at once all the Eezham Tamils detained behind barbed wire in the internment camps in Sri Lanka, sources Chennai said. Protection Committee for Tamils (PCT) organized the demonstration and later in the evening held a conference in T-Nakar in Chennai where resolutions related to the demands were passed, the sources added.

The resolutions passed included the demands to release the Eezham Tamils claimed as Liberation Tigers held in special detention camps in Tamil Nadu and the call to Indian Government to abrogate the Kachchai Theevu agreement with Sri Lanka, restituting it to the Tamils in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. Karunanithi said that the delegation of Tamil Nadu parliamentarians which went to Sri Lanka was neither sent by the government nor at government expense, in a media release Sunday.

The MPs who are from Congress, DMK and VCK political parties had sought permission from the Prime Minister of India to visit Sri Lanka and the External Ministry had issued the permission, the CM further said.

The travelling expenses of the MPs are met by their respective political parties, he said.